Australia’s #Defense #Data Stolen by #Mystery #Hackers

A mystery hacker, designated as a TV soap opera personality stole important and crucial data about the multi-billion dollar warplane and navy projects of Australia. According to the intelligence experts, it is a significant break-in but the identification of cyber-criminal has not been met.

The robbers were witnessed virtually stealing the illustrations of a crucial Australian naval project. The 30GB data stolen comprises information about submarines, new fighter planes, and the biggest warships of Australia. While the breach instigated in July last year, still the domestic spy agency of Australia, Australian Signals Directorate were not alerted till November. As per intelligent expert confirmations, the hack targeting the private defense contractor in the South Australian State was extreme and extensive.

This disclosure is coincident with the introduction of the Australian Cyber Security Center Threat Report of 2017 disclosing that the hack is one of the 734 cyber incidents that affect the systems of private sector involving the critical infrastructure and national interest caterers. According to the Government officials, the data stolen is commercially crucial but is not top secret.

As confirmed by a spokesperson from the US Department of Defense’s F-35 Joint Program Office to the Defense News, the officials are aware of the breach. As posted on 15thOctober 2017 on arstechnica.co.uk, no highly sensitive data has been stolen.

It has been insisted by the defense sources that the stolen data was ‘low level’ and was already shared extensively among defense contractors and companies. The system was hacked by the hackers in July 2016 and the authorities came to know about it in November only.

As a result, the hackers have a convenient access to the data for complete 4 months before the breach was identified in November 2016.

According to the detailed investigation into the breach by the Australian Signals Directorate, it was identified that hackers recognized a flaw in the software, which was not updated from 12 months. Simple usage of thecommon password and username combinations, like ‘guest guest’ or ‘admin admin’, offered the hackers an easy access to the web portal of Australia’s defense contractor.

Till date, the hackers have not been identified and there is no clue of their landmark.